It may be early in the school year but you have to figure Peyton Chapman ends up a shoo-in for state educator of the year.

Heck, I'll make the nomination here and now.

I know there are loads of exceptional and innovative educators out there, and lots of deserving teachers who work in special education, but none of them beat the Lincoln High School principal. Not when you make a single decision that ends up teaching us all more than we care to know.

Remember, Chapman oversaw boys basketball coach, David Adelman, who got his second DUII last year. And in response to the charge she didn't suspend him, or put Adelman on probation, but rather, left the guy to coach the school's team in the playoffs.

A teaching opportunity, she said.

Well, she got that right.

Her coaches learned there weren't real consequences. Her students understood that a coaching whistle can get you out of a mess. And the rest of us knew we'd soon be hearing more from the people who educate kids at Lincoln, most of them coaches.

So thank you, Ms. Principal. But I'm wondering today -- did the person who needed the biggest education ever get one?

Understand that post-Adelman none of us were surprised when the baseball coach reportedly accompanied players to a strip club on a spring break trip. And nobody was shocked when three football coaches leaving UFC 102 at the Rose Garden were cuffed, cited and taken to a detox center after an altercation with police on the Max platform on Aug. 29.

Yeah, there was a code of conduct instituted after Adelman's arrest, but who was going to enforce it with Chapman around?

On Thursday, two Lincoln football coaches pleaded guilty to interfering with police, and a judge handed head coach Chad Carlson and one of his assistants eight hours of community service. They'll serve it over the weekend, Carlson hopes, and be back in court on Tuesday, wiping their records clean. And all that ends up as quick justice by a system that everyone involved with this incident agreed worked.

But what of Chapman's record as an administrator?

Her supporters are going to tell you the school has great test scores, and wonderful faculty. They're going to offer you statistics on the number of children who end up going to college from Lincoln. They're going to talk about parental support at the school, and offer you statistics that show Lincoln is one of the best schools in the state.

I'm thinking it could be so much more than a stat factory, though.

The hope here is that the principal sees her clear role in the trend at Lincoln. That she realizes that teaching opportunities extend beyond standardized tests. I'm talking about real-world teaching now. I hope that Chapman learned through this: Deep down, humans will rise, or lower, expectations of themselves in direct correlation with those who oversee them.

She's the principal. It means she's in charge. And being the head of a school filled with young minds, and good educators ends up being a role one ought to take seriously. So yeah, even as she's refused to hold others accountable, the community can't and shouldn't let her off.

We need better from you, teach.

A school should be known for producing great minds, not a bigger workload for the district attorney's office. I suspect the football coach won't end up in the detox center again. I expect that other coaches on campus will understand the responsibility they hold. Teaching moments hit us all the time, but it's time they started coming from positive experiences.

Therein lies the saddest part of this.

Carlson, who also serves as the school's campus security monitor, said he now knows better than to get involved with law enforcement officers trying to do their job. He said he understands consequence and responsibility. And that, as an educator of children on campus, he now fully understands he must do better off campus lest he throw away his entire career next time.

All that, I like.

But if you asked Carlson when he realized all of this, and when he got most anxious about his future, he wouldn't tell you that he got it from Chapman. He wouldn't point to a pre-season seminar she held or to the example she set dealing with the misbehavior of other coaches.

Nope.

Carlson woke up when he heard the snap of a pair of handcuffs on his wrists.

That's an education we could all do without.

Catch Canzano on The Bald-Faced Truth radio show weekdays 3-6 p.m. on 95.5-FM. Visit www.baldfacedtruth.com for more Canzano.